Dexter's Laboratory: Dexter's Ark/Tropes
This is the list of tropes for Dexter's Laboratory: Dexter's Ark. Tropes *'Actor Allusion' - In the doves' first scene, Dean (One of the doves voiced by Elijah Wood) calls Buddy the cottontail rabbit an "Easter Bunny". The same actor in North calls the guardian angel an "Easter Bunny" too. *'Adaptation Expansion' *'Adapted Out' - The weather balloon from the comic isn't in the film. *'All There in the Manual' - The end credits reveal the names for the background animals whose names aren't called in the film, such as Kupigwa the zebra and Vishaal the elephant. *'All-Star Cast' - Unlike Ego Trip, the film stars Elijah Wood, Emma Stone, Sam Elliott, Jonathan Adams, Jennifer Aniston and Alan Tudyk, while everyone else are veteran voice actors. *'Always a Bigger Fish' - After Beau saves Dee Dee from one of its tentacles, the giant squid finally snaps. Just then, a sperm whale comes out of nowhere and drags the giant squid into the depths. *'Anachronism Stew' - Some of the animals on board weren't even discovered before the last Dexter’s Laboratory episode premiered on television. These include Bornean clouded leopards, blue-throated hillstars and large fan-throated lizards. And also, mammoths, thylacines, quaggas, passenger pigeons and dodos went extinct in real life. *'Animated Adaptation' - This is actually loosely based on one issue of the Dexter’s Laboratory comics. *'Animation Bump' - The animation in this film is a lot more fluid and smoother than the previous film, Ego Trip. *'Anti-Hero' - Dexter was this until the end of the film, he gets better. *'The Ark' - Dexter builds one and saves the animal kingdom. Even fish and other aquatic animals that live in freshwater habitats or the coral reef are aboard in the ark, as well as land animals. *'Art Shift' - The nightmare sequence uses the art style by Stephen DeStefano, the illustrator of the Dexter's Ark comic. *'Artistic License - Biology' - One scene where a pair of Egyptain plovers cleaning the teeth of one of the Nile crocodiles. This isn't true in real life. *'Ascended Extra' - Beau was originally an oneshot character, appearing in the episode, Beau Tie. In here, he is the main protagonist. **Becky and Gwen, from Bus Boy, appear as supporting antagonists. **Dexter's dog appears in some episodes as an unspecified breed. In here, he is changed into a Chinese crested and named as Chester. Chester appears as a supporting character. *'Big Damn Heroes' - Before Becky and Gwen beat up Beau and Dee Dee, Sir Richard the Siberian tiger and his mate show up and attack the two girl bullies. It turns out that the tigers were searching for Beau all along after they first met. *'Big Damn Kiss' - Beau and Dee Dee kiss each other in the final scene before it fades into black and rolls credits. *'Black Comedy' - As Beau, Dean, Donna, Penelope, Mee Mee, Lee Lee and Douglas head to the ark by riding the bike and following the foxes, a bunch of mythical creatures and cryptids (an unicorn, an European dragon, a bigfoot, a chupacabra and a griffin), as well as a giant fish balloon monster from The Powerpuff Girls, were seen all mocking and laughing at the ark. They all drowned after that. *'Break the Cutie' - Both Beau and Dee Dee became this. *'Break-Up/Make-Up Scenario' - This happens after the fight with Dexter and Dee Dee. Dee Dee runs off to the deck of the ark all by herself, sobbing. Whereas Beau tries to pursue her before he gets caught by Becky and Gwen. After that, Beau forgives Dee Dee. *'Breaking the Fourth Wall' - This happens after Dexter finishes the ark and starts to call all the animals of the world: Dee Dee: “Folks, let's skip that part because we already seen that during the opening. So, let's see what's going on with Beau and the doves, shall we?” *'The Bus Came Back' - Mee Mee and Lee Lee came back after their last appearance in season 2. *'The Cameo' - Blossom, Bubbles, Buttercup, Professor Utonium and Ms. Keane from The Powerpuff Girls make cameo appearances throughout the film. **Lance and Ilana from Sym-Bionic Titan also make cameo appearances as well. **When Becky and Gwen get chased by Chester and his friends made up of realistic dogs and cats, one viewer can see Little Dog and Big Dog from Two Stupid Dogs ''for a brief moment. At least they don't destroy the ark this time. *'Canon Foreigner''' - Chloe, Dean, Donna, Penelope, Sir Richard, Vivan, Leonard, Doris and Reverald. *'Carnivore Confusion' - The only law here in Dexter's ark is the ban on carnivores eating herbivores. *'Character Development' - Beau went from a pre-teen neighbor to a heroic character. *'Children are Innocent' - The mallard ducklings and their parents appear throughout the film, with one of them being voiced by Tara Strong. *'Conspicuous CG' - The giant squid, the sperm whale and the baleen whales (blue whale and humpback whale) were all made in computer animation. The ark itself was mostly made in computer animation, especially when floating. *'Dark is Not Evil' - Sir Richard. *'Deuteragonist' - Dee Dee is this to Beau's protagonist role. Dean, Donna and Vivan all share tritagonist roles and Sir Richard serves as a tetragonist. *'Die or Fly' - Dean the dove tries his best to fly again after his wing gets broken. Eventually, Dean finally succeeds after his take off from the ark to join the bald eagles, wandering albatrosses and American kestrels to find Beau who is rescuing Dee Dee from drowning. *'Disc-One Final Boss' - Mandark appears as the primary antagonist for the first act. But then, after Mandark nearly drowned in the flood by his own plan, Reverald the raven takes over Mandark's role for the rest of the film, especially in the third act after eating a cursed apple in which gives him a much demonic-like voice and red eyes. *'Dissappeared Dad' - Beau's father was killed in the car crash, and Beau himself somehow sees Sir Richard the tiger as his father figure. *'Easily Forgiven' - First Beau forgives Dee Dee, then Dexter forgives both of them after an argument with his sister. **This happens to Reverald too, after being turned back to his former self. Reverald forgives the doves after all his actions of being a red-eyed monster and eventually became friends. *'End of Series Awareness' - This happens at the end of the film. Dee Dee: “Dexter?” Dexter: "What, Dee Dee?" Dee Dee: "Is this the end of our entire series?" Dexter: *sighs* "I think so, Dee Dee." Beau: "You know what, Dexter and Dee Dee? This might be a beginning of our brand new friendship together." *Dee Dee and Dexter smile at Beau* *'Everything's Squishier with Cephalopods' - As the world begins to flood and Dexter's ark starts to set sail, Beau and Dee Dee encounter a pair of giant Pacific octopi that sneak into the ark and they're being placed in a saltwater tank. And then, there's a giant squid during the climax where Beau saves Dee Dee from drowning after being pushed off from the ark's deck. *'Evil Counterpart' - The ravens are this to the doves. Both of them have the same goal: find land. *'Fantastic Foxes' - Vivan the red fox and her mate. *'Four Man Band' **'Only Sane Man' - Beau. **'Casanova Wannabe' - Dee Dee. **'The Smart Guy' - Donna the dove. **'Butt-Monkey' - Dean the dove. *'Get Out' - Beau tells his mother to take Becky and Gwen, who were tied up by the bushbabies, to their room and the girls were never to be seen again. *'Halfway Plot-Switch' - The first half looks like a comedy based on one of Dexter's Laboratory comics with additonal elements. The second and third acts, however, pull a dramedy with Beau and Dee Dee. *'Heel-Face Turn' - Reverald at the end. *'Heel Realization' - Dee Dee became this after Beau tells her that how much she cares for her little brother, Dexter. *'In Media Res' - The film opens with the animals' journey to the ark. Suddenly, Beau spots Dexter while narrating the story of Noah's Ark. And then, the film flashes back as Beau tells the viewers how we got there. *'Largely Normal Animal' - All the animals except for Dexter's monkey. *'Logo Joke' - After the credits, the Cartoon Network Studios logo features the bushbabies saying "good-bye" to the viewers. *'Lower-Deck Episode' - More like Lower-Deck Movie, as one oneshot character, Beau, gets the main focus. *'Mythology Gag' - Reverald isn't the first character who eats a cursed apple. Dee Dee ate the cursed apple during Monstrosi-Dee Dee. Expect this time, the possessed raven is seen by everyone else besides Dexter. *'Noble Bird of Prey' - A pair of bald eagles appear as two of Beau's allies. *'Non-Standard Character Design' - The designs for the animal characters are a lot more realistic than the cartoony human characters. However, Dexter's monkey and his mate are a lot cartoony than the realistic monkeys (capuchins, langurs, tamarins, macaques, etc.). *'Opening Narration '- Beau narrates the opening sequence where the animals headed for the ark, he spots Dexter instead of Noah and cuts to the start of the story. *'Out of Focus' - Dexter only appears as a supporting character. Mandark only appears in the first half of the film. *'Panthera Awesome' - Sir Richard, a Siberian tiger who is being voiced by Sam Elliott. And there's Leonard the lion. *'Prickly Porcupine' - Dee Dee throws one of the Brazilian porcupines to Dexter during a fight. *'"The Reason You Suck" Speech' - Dexter did this to Dee Dee. Dee Dee: “But, Dexter! I can explain!” Dexter: "First of all, you ruined every single invention I made. Second, you tried to help me on something but you did nothing but to destroy it. And thirdly, I AM SO TIRED OF YOUR FOOLISHNESS AND ANNOYANCE!!!" Dee Dee: "But, I just wanted to spend time with you, Dexter!" Dexter: "I am sorry, Dee Dee. But, I have no choice. SO, GET OUTTA MY LIFE!!!" *'Ridiculously Cute Critter' - The bushbabies. And a few other cute animals. *'Seldom-Seen Species' - And they're just about everywhere! From maned wolves to pangolins to tarsiers to cassowaries to thorny devils. Can you name them all? **There's even extinct animals aboarding Dexter's ark, such as thylacines, passenger pigeons and Bramble Cay melomys. **And then, there's Monty the monito del monte. *'Shout Out' - Any scene featuring a warthog pair and a meerkat pair together, which reminds you of Timon and Pumbaa from The Lion King. **Sir Richard the Siberian tiger is named after Richard Parker from Life of Pi. *'Shown Their Work' - Dean and Donna are white Barbary doves or ringneck doves. They came from the wedding ceremory along with other doves. Unfortunately, white Barbary doves cannot survive in the wild, unlike white homing pigeons which are called release doves. And Dean's got a broken wing. Thankfully, Beau decided to adopt them. **And also, there's a female ostrich with brown feathers, peahens with duller colors and no tail fans, a female moose without antlers, male kangaroos and wallabies without pouches, most female songbirds with duller colors (such as cardinals, goldfinches and sparrows), a female Thomson's gazelle with shorter horns, crocodiles with both teeth shown while their mouths closed, etc. **One scene where Beau refers Vishaal as Mr. Elephas maximus, a scientific name for the Asian elephant. **Mrs. Mallard has brown plumage like real female mallards. **During Dexter's search for a perfect bird to find land for him, one of the bird pairs has a male superb lyrebird that mimics the sounds of a car, a camera and even a telephone, that makes Dexter reject the lyrebird pair for being too annoying and loud and picks the next bird pair. **One scene where Kupigwa, a zebra, calls the red-billed oxpecker pair "parasites" for pecking at her. Contary to popular belief, oxpeckers would go after blood and wounds on large animals, rather than ticks. **Sir Richard's stripe pattern isn’t the same as his mate's, because no two tigers are alike. *'Speaks Fluent Animal '- Beau, Dee Dee and Dexter have tiny earpieces in order to hear what the animals say. That is until near the end where the animals begin to talk to other humans besides Beau, Dee Dee and Dexter after the two of the trio get thrown into Sir Richard's cage. *'Species Lost and Found' - Recently extinct animals, like mammoths, thylacines and passenger pigeons, make cameo appearances throughout the film. *'Supporting Protagonist' - Dexter himself. *'Three-Act Structure' **First Act - Mandark plans to kill Dexter by flooding the world. Dexter builds an ark and gathers two of every animal aboard. Beau, Dee Dee, the doves and their friends aboard the ark too. Little did they know that Becky and Gwen followed them. **Second Act - As the world begins to flood, the ark sets sail. During that time, Sir Richard the Siberian tiger and his mate went missing after their cage is left open. So, Beau and Dee Dee decide to search for the tigers before Becky and Gwen does. **Third Act - The rains have stopped and one of the birds must find land. However, after Donna flies off to find land, Dee Dee gets pushed out into the water by Becky and Gwen. Now, it's up to Beau to save Dee Dee with the help of his feathered friends. *'X Meets Y' - Dexter's Laboratory meets Evan Almighty. *'You Have Failed Me' - The ravens were perfect for Dexter's land finding job. Reverald was sent by Dexter to find land. But after the fight with Dee Dee and sent himself to his room, Dexter finds Reverald and his mate with nothing and fires them. However, Donna the dove was sent by Beau to finish Reverald's job. And after the climax, she returns with an olive branch on her beak. Tearjerker *After Dexter and Dee Dee's argument, a fight between the siblings have followed. Beau tries to calm them down, but it never works. *Beau and Dee Dee snuggling together in a cage with the Siberian tigers and the doves, both heartwrenching and heartwarming. The song that they sang together, I Need You Now, does help. *The scene where Beau tells Dee Dee about her relationship with Dexter and how she cares for him. Nightmare Fuel *A nightmare sequence features Dexter in his flooded room, then he becames captain of the ship with his parents. Just then, Dexter gets grabbed by the tentacles of a Dee Dee-like sea monster and eats him. This foreshadows the climax where Beau desperately saves Dee Dee from the giant squid. Category:Tropes